Sen. Blunt: Missouri Senate Race Will Be About Party Control

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said that Todd Akin, whose Senate bid he is now backing, can defeat incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill in November during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday. Blunt said that rather than have a race about the candidate, Akin can win even after his "legitimate rape" comments because the race will be about which party controls the Senate.

I think at the end of the day that race does largely become a debate about the majority in the Senate, Harry Reid as majority leader, what happens there. I think that becomes really big in that race. Frankly, I think that anybody else would have been a candidate that clearly would have won and Todd very well may win. He's on a ticket at a time when people are looking at a Senate that's not doing its work, and the only way to change the Senate is to change the majority in the Senate.